Some kids from Ferguson made a charming video about racism. It covers the basics very well.
Unfortunately, just as with any post about sexism, all you have to do is read the comments to see the thesis of the post thoroughly demonstrated by example.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
The kids are from the neighborhood. They have cred. C’mon, NBA, show us what you got and play this shit as TV commercials during league games.
Because those young folks have it dead on. They deserve to be heard by the widest audience possible.
PZ:
Man, you have got to stop rage blogging. People are starting to talk about you.
This was brilliant, and amazing and that take down of “some of my best friends are…” was just about the most wonderful and awe-inspiring thing I have EVER witnessed.
Holy shit, those comments though.
Seems Lewis’ Law holds for racism as well as feminism.
Dislikes to Likes on the video are currently sitting at around 2:1.
@ Rowan #3
You get a cookie!
Priceless.
What about the fact that blacks are less intelligent and commit more violent crime, often directed at whites with extreme violence and hatred (unprovoked attacks, group attacks, repeated kicks to the head). Should people ignore that to be truly enlightened?
… Is red star using POE’s law, or are they really a raging ignorant racest asshat?
Racist, I get, but ignorant? Enlighten me.
I do hope no one will get terribly angry that I’m going to skip past the 3 post rule and deliver a hearty FUCK YOU to red star @7.
What people should ignore are evidenceless assertions from blatantly racist taintstains like yourself. Did I mention you can FUCK OFF? If I hadn’t, please take the opportunity to FUCK OFF.
You know what, I’m going to take red at their word… which is that of the bum-on-pate variety.
1- intelligence tests often use things that are learned/taught which makes them unreliable for measuring actual intelligence versus how lucky you were in your schooling.
2- If you’re treated like an idiot when you aren’t, are faced with horrific racism that helps relegate you to abject poverty and prevents you from escaping it, sometimes violence is going to happen…. though I can’t recall the last time someone black went on a mass shooting spree, or was a serial killer rather than someone white….
3- citations or you admit you’re a racist asshat.
Rowan:
Isn’t that so precious? The smug assclam thinks we’re supposed to educate them. They come to a progressive blog where sexism, misogyny, transphobia, ableism, homophobia, and RACISM are not tolerated, and think its our job to enlighten them?
Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to let red star hang themselves much further — that’s more than enough rope already.
Red star: BANNED.
That was swift PZ. Thank you.
I wonder if they’ll try to sneak back in. They get so mad when you deny them the platforms they feel entitled to.
I loved the video.
They hit almost every trope, saying, meme, etc.
*slow clap*
*cookie*
brilliant
Holy hell! That video was damn good.
This video is awesome. The kids made excellent points and infused humor, which made me really hopeful for the next generation. But the segment at the end showing Michael Brown’s memorial had me fighting back tears. It hit me hard because all I could think was that any one of those kids could be next. I hope this video can get some advertising space. Maybe it can help change some minds.
I laughed out loud at the slow clap in response to “I have a black friend.”
Seven of Mine, formerly piegasm:
So did I! Then I made my boyfriend watch that point and he, being a solemn and understated kind of man, nodded sagely and smiled. This is his equivalent of rolling on the floor in hysterics.
irony?
That was a great video! I, too, loved the slowclap/cookie response.
Naturally, I saved myself the horrors of reading the YouTube comments. I can confidently say, having never even peeked, that those comments would be ragesmashy.
all you have to do is read the most popular comment of the 5000 comments on the video.
hint:
it’s a rant that would make any KKK member proud, and basically states that “Africans” are little more than wild beast that have never created anything, ever.
I swear, it was like an intentional attempt to PROVE that racism is still a HUGE issue in the US.
yeesh.
I read some of the comments. I’m not entirely certain I have any real hope for humanity.
Thank you for sharing this video, PZ.
I will tell about this video to a friend of mine that teach Civics, and myself will use these video in my class.
Okay, that little boy is the best thing ever. “YOU GET A COOKIE!”
I’m with some of the other commenters here. LOVED the slow clap and the “You get a cookie!” part after “Some of my best friends are black.” That’s about how I feel toward people who say things like that.
What in the world would made you guys even think of reading comments on a video like that?!
If they can turn a Bach violin concerto into an argument about why Nazi treatment of Jews was justified, what chance does a racism related video have?
I don’t know, but I think my “favorite” form of racism is the “but you have to admit that black people commit more crimes and score lower on IQ tests, surely we shouldn’t ignore SCIENCE!” one. It allows the racist to feel like they’re the rational, persecuted Only Sane Man* while maintaining their prejudices and not thinking even a little bit about why violence might be more frequent in predominantly black communities or how IQ tests are biased. Much easier on the racists’ egos than the old overt “I just hate (fill in the minority)” version. Plus, that allows the white men to claim to be the real victims, which they seem to want to do.
*Yes, I used the gendered version deliberately. Racism and sexism are not interchangable and, unfortunately, there are both sexist anti-racists and racist anti-sexists, but there is a tendency for racism and sexism to run together.
White-on-white murder is out of control.
That was fantastic. Slow clap and a cookie! That’s gonna be a thing for me now. :)
Well, most of the major wars of the last couple of centuries have been started or made worse by white people. Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Kennedy, Nixon, Bush, Other Bush, Cheney, Churchill, Chamberlain, Roosevelt…clearly, we are simply too violent to be allowed political power.
I know Redstar is gone, but I can’t help but think that my Irish ancestors were considered stupid violent brutes 150 years ago. That [insert ethnic group here] has low IQ’s and are violent is pure bullshit.
ekwhite @ #31
Actually, even more recently than that. In 1979 I got a ride from a lorry driver in northern England going into Scotland. Much of the way he talked about the Irish coming to England just to live on the dole, having babies just to get more money, being ignorant, violent, criminal, etc. The irony was the things this man was saying about Irish people were practically identical to the things my father said about blacks. My father was a Southerner proud of his Irish ancestry.
Our ultra-progressive candidate for state assembly (on whose primary campaign I worked) just posted this yesterday, and his first comment (presumably from someone on the ‘Left’, as I don’t think he tolerates Right-wing hate-followers) was some idiot who was literally calling the video racist. Because it talked about race at all, I guess? I loved it; demonstrating that even little kids can grasp these concepts (it’s obviously scripted, but since these kids are living the reality, I have no trouble believing they get the underlying concepts of covert racism) is a nice rhetorical move.
Some of my best friends are cookies. I really don’t get along well with people.
Wow, that was really powerful video, and the message had just the right mix of humor and cuteness. I’m not going to YT to read the comments. Nope, not gonna do it.
“Racism is not over, but I’m over racism”
I get what the slogan means, but I think its a bit clunky.
As a white guy, I don’t know how comfortable I’d feel wearing a shirt that says “i’m over racism” on it. Someone could easily misinterpret that view it as me being dismissive of racism from a privileged position.
Delightful kids, and a great message in the video nonetheless.
“Racism is not over, but I’m over racism”
I get what the slogan means, but I think its a bit clunky.
It may not be marketing genius but it’s better than what a lot of big-name atheist/skeptic organizations seem to be able to come up with…
I want to chime in on the myths that get passed around as reality when a privileged group wants to justify despicable behavior. The … oh, how to put it? … OK, troll who dropped a load and was booted, is repeating the same old same old. You just swap out who it is they are denigrating. Then they can proudly proclaim, but I’M NOT THE PROBLEM! because they have proved it is those other people who are. Stories of the type go back so far. I don’t want to repeat them, even as historical examples, because that’s kind of sickening. Centuries this has been a thing. Centuries this has been total crap.
Don’t give up working towards change, people. We are in this for the long, long haul. Kudos and admiration to the kids who put the video together. Rock on, because if you do and we do, one day it has to get better.
Jeff S @36:
I very much disagree and can’t understand what makes it clunky.
Tony!
The slogan works much better spoken aloud with a little sneer and a finger snap.
The print version might require an explanation.
…which is not a bad thing
That restored a bit of my faith in humanity…
…then I read the Youtube comments and now it’s all gone!
mickll @41:
Were you trying to torture yourself? You read the comments?!